Your Medicine Chest

[packyderms_wife]

There's a reason it's called a chest!!! Mods please sticky this and everyone else please feel free to add to the lists if I left something out.

Basic emergency care manual!!!

Medicine Chest Contents

• Activated charcoal
• Plain kitty litter with no additives or clumping compounds this is also known as bentonite clay.
• Bentonite clay
• Baking soda
• Rubbing Alcohol
• Hydrogen Peroxide
• Betadine
• Listerine (the brown stuff with no sugar etc., added) - can be used to disinfect minor wounds in pinch, it also kills athlete's foot.
• Lavender EO -Essential Oil
• Eucalyptus EO
• Oil of Oregano
• Tea Tree Oil
• Epson Salts - great to soak tired feet in!
• Pedialyte Electrolytes or ST's recipe for making electrolytes
• Gatorade - pick a clearish variety so if you give it to someone who could puke it back up you can determine what's in the vomit... gross but sometimes it needs to be done.
• OTC pain relievers
• Plain toothpaste with none of that funky stuff in it.
• Orajel for when you have a mouth/tooth situation
• Eye wash, or the recipe to make your own with DISTILLED water
• Distilled Water
• Bag Balm and/or Udder Cream - for cracked feet, fingers, and elbows
• Petroleum jelly, for those things you can't put bag balm on
• KY jelly - for those things you should NEVER put bag balm or petroleum jelly on!
• Unkers, Bengay or some other type cream for pulled muscles, etc.,
• Preperation H ~ explanation is on the box!
• Baby asprin
• Peptobismal in both liquid and tablet form
• Kayopectate
• Monostat 7 the cream variety for those spots that don't respont to antibiotic cream
• Athlete's foot medicine.
• antibiotic ointment
• silver cream for MINOR burns, etc.,
• honey
• Calmine Lotion
• Technu soap for poison ivy, sumac, oak, etc.
• Lava soap the old fashioned old timey green bar kind.

Equipment everyone should have:

• eye cup for when you get junk in your eye - to be used only with sterile eye wash solution
• thermometer instant read and the old fashioned type just in case
• blood pressure cuff
• stethoscope
• dish pan for soaking feet, hands, etc
• crutches adjustable for several heights
• basic splints for wrist, ankle, or fingers
• athletic wrap
• bandages and bandaids of various sizes and quantities.

[packyderms_wife]

The above is just the standard that doesn't even get into herbal and alternative remedies, Dr. Oz had a show last week or whatever, well several shows actually, of every day common items you should keep on hand to keep from going to the doctor or hospital. It's pretty much what I listed above.

It always amazes me when I meet someone my age, 47, and they don't even have bandaids on hand they simply go to the emergency room!!!





Also add to the list that stuff that helps wounds heal better, name escapes me at the moment, it can be purchased online.

[Meemur]

List 1

Mineral oil
Burn cream (I keep a tube of medicated aloe on hand)
Alum stick (stop bleeding from razor cuts - Dollar Store / CVS)

List 2

Tweezers (with a sharp point - keep them there) for picking out slivers
Sewing needle or large safety pin (also for slivers)
Pen light (for looking down throats and into ears
Tooth crown repair kit (several bucks - CVS has them)

[packyderms_wife]

Thank you Meemur!

[Ben Sunday]

Addition for the Medicine Chest List:

Zinc Oxide Ointment: (usually in a tube). Protects injured or inflamed areas. Dries oozing patches. Helpful if you don't have Preparation H. Also helpful for non poisonous insect bites, common cuts and scratches, etc.

Along with Boric Acid and Vaseline, one of the major topical treatments carried by the great Antarctic doctors a hundred years ago (Wilson, Marshall, MacKay, et al.)

[packyderms_wife]

Addition for the Medicine Chest List:

Zinc Oxide Ointment: (usually in a tube). Protects injured or inflamed areas. Dries oozing patches. Helpful if you don't have Preparation H. Also helpful for non poisonous insect bites, common cuts and scratches, etc.

Along with Boric Acid and Vaseline, one of the major topical treatments carried by the great Antarctic doctors a hundred years ago (Wilson, Marshall, MacKay, et al.)

I hate Zinc Oxide (the way it smells) but thank you, yes definately works in a pinch if you don't have preperation H, and it also works on diaper rash.

K-

[packyderms_wife]

Equipment Suggestion

Make one of those rice heat packs. Make a cotton rectangle that'll fit across your face, lightly fill with any type of dried rice, sew ends shut. This can be put in either the freezer or the microwave to use when you have a massive sinus headache.

K-

[GoodEnergy]

I'm not sure it'd be useful for everyone's chest, but I'd add to the equipment list an O2 monitor(oximeter) to check on blood oxygen levels. You can get a cheap(but accurate) one for about $20 on Amazon.

[Meemur]

Cortizone

I had to get up at 1 am because my arm was itching like crazy. Upon closer inspection of the corner of my yard, I see poison oak . . .

[Meemur]

yes definately works in a pinch if you don't have preperation H

For emergencies, liquid witch hazel applied with a tissue works for about two hours. Prep H is much better.

My big three: hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, and witch hazel. I had those on the road with me when I moved and used all of them almost daily.

Rubbing alcohol can be used as emergency deodorant. Apply in the morning and at noon if sweating profusely. It is stronger than witch hazel, so don't substitute one for the other. Use witch hazel on faces and delicate parts. Warning: alcohol is drying. I have extremely oily skin, so it's not an issue for me.